RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – For the second straight year, Oklahoma Baptist earned several All-Great American Conference softball honors after another impressive regular season.
Among the highlights:
Sam Maples became just the second GAC coach to earn back-to-back Coach of the Year honors previously accomplished by Ron Faubion of Southeastern in 2013 and 2014. Plus,
Kayleigh Jones earned her second straight Pitcher of the Year accolade. Only one other player has done this: Arkansas Tech's Jalissa Gum in 2016 and 2017.
Plus,
Morgan Max earned Player of the Year honors while
Maggie Place was recognized as Freshman of the Year. That's now the second consecutive season that the Bison have won four of the five major awards.
As far as the All-GAC Team, there were four First Team selections: Jones, Max,
Adi Reese and
Ally Ryan. There were also three Second Team honorees: Place,
Emily Adler and
Sammie Greene.
The 2024 Bison are 40-11 this season under Maples. That marks only the second time in program history that OBU has won at least 40 games in consecutive seasons (2002-03).
Jones is now the only player in OBU history to earn three All-GAC First Team certificates. This year, she has three no-hitters and leads the GAC in complete games (16), hits allowed per nine innings (4.16), strikeouts (243), victories (21) and WHIP (0.91). Jones has struck out at least 10 in 12 different games including a whopping 20 during the Feb. 18 game vs. Central Missouri. Just recently, she surpassed 1,000 career strikeouts, a program first.
A season ago, Max earned placement on the All-GAC Second Team. Fast forward to now, she's the second Bison to be named Player of the Year and made the First Team. Max ranks top-five in the GAC in batting (.391), RBI (42) and doubles (13). She also is second in on-base percentage (.485) and third in slugging (.659). Among her season bests, Max collected three hits versus Ouachita on April 12 and notched a pair of homers with five RBI against Southeastern on March 10.
Reese, who plays second base, was named to the top team for the second time. She has posted career-bests in batting average (.376), hits (50), doubles (14) and slugging (.571). The Whitewater, Kansas native ranks second in the GAC in doubles and is also third in sacrifice bunts per game (0.24). Reese has notched a season-high three hits in four different games and driven in as many as four in a game with Henderson State on April 20.
Rounding out OBU's first team honorees was Ryan. The sophomore from Frisco, Texas made a huge jump from her 2023 campaign to now. She has 17 homers, tops in the GAC, 13th in the country and tied for most-ever in school history. Ryan's 48 RBI rank No. 2 in the conference while her .727 slugging mark is No. 1. In a trio of contests this spring, Ryan has gone 3-for-3. During a March 12 game against Southern Nazarene, she registered two homers and six RBI.
The Bison's last three selections were Place, Adler, and Greene.
In the circle, Place, a freshman from Goldsby, Okla., posted a 1.98 ERA, earned 16 wins, one save, and struck out 80. Her win count is fifth-most among all freshmen in D2. She struck out as many as six batters twice. One of those times came against Northwestern on March 2. In that game, she tossed a season-high 7.0 innings and didn't allow a run. That was one of 12 games in 28 appearances this season that Place didn't allow an earned run.
Adler generated 47 hits, a .318 average, seven doubles, 21 walks, 20 stolen bases and scored 38 runs, fifth-most in the GAC. She's coming off a 5-for-10 performance in the regular-season-closing series at Arkansas Tech which included a season-high three hits during the opener.
Greene, a junior outfielder, finalized OBU's all-conference selections. She has a .312 batting average, ranks fifth in the GAC with 21 stolen bases and her four triples are slotted fourth. She is one of four players to start all 51 games this season as well. Greene had a 14-game hitting streak at one point during the season and recorded as many as three hits twice.
In the classroom, Ryan was named a GAC Elite Scholar Athlete while
Sydney Adler,
Ayzia Shirey and
Zoey Johnson earned Distinguished Scholar Athlete recognition.
